Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-25
It's Folly for Anybody in This Word
to Wait for Something to Turn
Up--It Will Turn Down.
The Law of Thrift is as InexOrabIe as
the Law Of the Tides-Christian.
itY to Direct Human Ambition.
There are Evils Abroad which Must Be
Hunted Down and Dragged Out into
the MONDAY Light.

Dewitt 1dludSSJ u. ~ ACnu HUN Vic
Rock of Proverbs some lessons about
honest thrift. He then gave out the hymn
beginning:
1.-THE strife will not be long
This day of the noise of battle,
The next the victor's song"
The boy choir chanted an opening and
closing selection. DR.. Talmage's dis
course was entitled "Behind the Counter;
or, Trials and Encouragements of Sales
men and SaIeswomen." He took the two
following passages as his text: "And a
certain woman named Lydia, seller Of
purple, of the city of Thyatira, which
worshiped God, heard US; whose heart
the Lord opeUed. '-Acts xvi. IA. "Seest
thou a man 0iiigent in his business? he
shall stand before kings. "-Proverbs
xii. % The preacher said:
The first passage introduces to you
LvQia, a Christian merChantess. Her
business is to deal in purple cloths or
silks. She is not giggling nOnentity, but
practical woman, not ashamed to work
for her living. All the other women of Phil
ippi and Thyatlra have been forgotten;
but God has made immortal in our text,
lydia the Christian salesWOman.
The other text shows you man with
head, and hand, and heart, and foot all
busy toiling on up until he gains e
DripcelV success. "Seest thou q man dill
igent in his business? he shall stand be-
fore kings" Great encouragement these
two passages for men and women who
will be busy, but 10 solace for those
who are waiting for good luck to show
them, at the foot of the rainbow, Casket
of buried gold. 1t is folly for anybody in
this world to wait for something TO turn
up. 1t will turn down. The law of
thrift is as memorable as the law of the
tides. Fortune, the magician, may wave
ber arm in that direction until castles
and palaces come; but she Will, after a
while, inveTt the same wand, and all the
splendOrs will vanish into thin air. There
are certain styles Of behavior which lead
to usefulness; honor and permanent sue
cess. and there are certain styles of be-
hsviOr which lead to dust, dlshOnOr and
moral default. I would like to fire the
ambition Of young people. l have no
sympathy with those who would prepare
young folks for life by whiting down
their expectations. That man or woman
will be worth nothing to church or state
who begins life cOwed down. The bus
mess of Christianity is not to QuenCh but
to direct human ambition. Therefore it
is that l come out this morning and utter
words of encouragement to those who
are occupied as clerks in stores and
shops, and banking houses of the country.
You say: ''Why select one class, and
talk to one specially this morning?' For
the same reason that a surgeon does not
open the door of a hospital and throw in
bushel of prescriptions, saying: "COme,
now, and get your medicine" He first
feels the pulse, watches the symptoms,
and then presCribes for that particular
case SO to-day l must be specific. The
people in this audience who are clerks
are not an exceptional class. They be-
long to a great company of tens of thouS-
ands who are in this country, amid cir
Cumstsnces which will either make or
break them for time and for eternity. |
should be very slow TO acknowledge that
the clerks, male and female, OF other cities,
are any more honest or faithful than the
clerks of our own city. Many of these
people have already achieved Christian
manlness and q Christian Womanliness
which Will be their passport to any posi-
ton. l have seen their trials. | have
watched their perpleXities. There are
evils abroad which need to be haunted
down, and dragged out into the MONDAY
light.
In the first place, I counsel clerks to
remember that for the most part their
Clerkship is only a school from which they
are to be graduated. 1t takes about eight
years to get one of the learned profession.
1t takes about eight years to get to be a
merchant. Some OF you will DE clerks
all your lives, hut the vast majority of
you are only in transient position.
After awhile, some December day, the
head men of the firm will call you into the
back office, and they will say to you:
CHOW, you have done well by US; we are
going to do well by you. We invite you
to have an interest in our concern" You
will bow to that ediCt very gracefully.
Getting into a street car t. go home, an
old COmrade will meet you and say:
''What makes you look so hsppy to-
night?" &c." you will say, "nothing,
nothing" But in few days your name
will blossom on the sign. Either in the
store or bank where you are now, or IN
some other store or bank, you will take 8
higher position than that which you now
occupy. So | feel to-day that am stand
ing before people who will yet have their
hand on the helm of the worlds COM
merce, and you will turn it this way or
that; now clerks, but to be bankers, i'm
porters, insurance company directors,
shippers, contractors, superintendent of
railroads - your voice mighty son
Change" foremost in the
great financial and religious en-
terprises of the day. For,
though we who are in the professions
may, on the platform, plead for the phil
anthroples, after all, the merchants must
come forth with their millions to sustain
the movement. Be, therefore, patient
and diligent in this transient position.
You are now where you can learn things
you can never learn in any other place.
What you consider your disadvantages
are your grand opportunity. You see an
atfluent father some day come down on a
prominent street with his son, VINO has
Just graduated from the university and
establishing him in business, putting
500, 900 of capital in the store. Well,
you are envious. You say: go, if 1 only
had chance like that young man-if l
ba6 fa+b n GIOO O00 IN